The meeting began with an executive session at 8:30 AM. Minutes were taken by Arrington and Monaghan.

LAB STATUS Report: Christoph Leemann

Brief overview of status of experiments: DVCS experiments behind schedule
but currently running well in Hall A, G11 experiment in Hall B is making
progress in the analysis of their data, Hall C is running smoothly. At
the moment, running at 5.75 GeV leads to a higher trip rate due to loss
of overhead due to damage to cryomodules during the hurricane.

JLab management contract open to competition soon. SURA is putting together
a plan to satisfy the requirements of both the physics community and the DOE.
Special focus on business processes and safety, especially in light of recent
accidents at DOE labs. JLab has had a poorer than average safety record
recently, and significant effort has been going into trying to improve the
situation to help keep this from being a problem in the competition. Goal is
to get from current rate of reportable incidents from 1.6 (per 200,000
person-hours) to 0.5.

12 GeV upgrade: Work continues toward CD-1. Management welcomes user
involvement in the upgrade process. The goal is to put together the best possible case for the
proposed physics program. Money is tight,
so if we don't want to lose important physics, we need to explore
possibilities that might help the situation: finding outside sources of
funding (NSF or foreign contributions), coming up with ways to save money
on the upgrade or equipment without compromising the physics program. The lab
plans to campaign as aggressively as possible for full funding. If funding is
such that we have to make difficult choices, the users will be involved in
evaluating what physics will have to be lost, but it is premature to be trying
to do this kind of planning now. The focus should be on building a strong,
unified, case for the science that we want to do with the upgrade.

There were also discussions on the importance of keeping users interested
in the 12 GeV upgrade, as well as finding new groups to work on developing the
12 GeV program. On the DOE side, the project does have momentum and the
upgrade is "real". We need to make sure that it also has momentum in the
physics community. At the same time, it is important to maintain a healthy
and active 6 GeV program. Existing user groups may take up other projects and
outside groups may not be attracted to JLab if we let the current program fall
behind in anticipation of the upgrade.

12 GEV UPGRADE STATUS: Allison Lung

Showed an updated version of the IPT (integrated project team). Still
looking to fill some positions, and in particular would like suggestions from
the users for someone to be the Physics Project Manager (the position held
by John Domingo for the original CEBAF construction).

Discussed some R&D projects for 12 GeV. Development of the magnets
and testing of superconducting cables/leads for Halls A and C, prototyping
of detectors for Halls B and D.

Projected timeline for major reviews (carried out by JLab or DOE). Most
of these times are not yet finalized.

Addition of 61,000 square feet of space in CEBAF center, and demolition
of 22,000 square feet of trailer space (several of the stand-alone trailers
and the portion of trailer city closest to CEBAF center (roughly half of
trailer city). Timeline:

June 2004 - CD-3 approval of the project

July 20, 2004 - Begin of construction

Oct 2005 - End of construction

Jan 2006 - Move in

Feb 2006 - Demolition of trailers

Furnishings for office space. Current plan is that most user space will be
cubicles with two desks, but there will be some larger rooms with several
desks and computers. A list of requirements for furnishings will be put
together by December 2004, there will be mockup presentations by vendors in
February 2005, and a contract will be awarded in April. Much discussion and a
strong statement that it was considered extremely important to have doors that
can be locked. Thia Keppel is the UGBOD representative on the committees that
will make decisions on furnishings.

Discussion of other issues: More (different?) bike racks, especially at
popular entrances. Discussions of how to determine who is moved into the new
office space and how the move will be coordinated since at any given moment
many users who have space in the trailers are not present at JLab.

ACCELERATOR OPERATIONS: Swapan Chattopadhyay

Recent highlights.

More than 100 Coulombs of parity quality beam. All specs met or exceeded.

Energy spread of 0.003% (3e-5) achieved for most of the Hypernuclear running.

Polarization of >85% delivered with the superlattice cathode (30% increase
in the figure of merit over the standard strained crystals).

Exceeded all DOE metrics for accelerator operations except total scheduling.
With time lost due to Hall A septa problems, total availability was 1% below
the goal.

Met goal for accelerator downtime (achieved 12%, metric was 15%), but
working to further reduce this to 10%.

Upcoming challenges.

Energy: Can run at 5.75 GeV but with increased trip rate due to damage from
the hurricane. Used to be able to achieve 5.75 with 'standard' trip rate
(10/hour). Now limited to 5.5 GeV with normal trips, 5.75 with 15 trips/hr.
July 2005 - Replace NC11 with 12 GeV prototype --> expect 5.75 GeV with 10 trips/hr
July 2006 - Refurbishment of cryomodules --> expect 6.0 GeV with 10 trips/hr.

Parity quality beam: Many of the specs for the PREX and Qweak experiments
have been met, but requirements for position and beam charge asymmetries are somewhat better
than achieved so far.

Polarization: High polarization has been delivered, but the quantum
efficiency has limited current. Want to improve stability and lifetime
and make the superlattice cathode the standard.

Future: Want to move from a "construction" philosophy to an "operations"
philosophy. In the past, people have focussed on building, maintaining, and
optimizing individual subsystems. Want to move to a focus on optimizing
the overall system to increase stability, help meet strict requirements
of parity experiments.

Working on a new user web page. Detailed information on machine capabilities,
help identify what experimental requirements will need either special care or
additional development. New online forms for beam requirements of new
proposals (to replace the existing forms).

Trying to build more expertise in beam diagnostics. Plans to grow to a
three person group.

There was very positive feedback for accelerator from users, especially
related to the high quality of parity beams. Discussion of what users can do
to help. Close interactions between physics and accelerator have been very
useful in developing parity quality beam for previous experiments. Also
important to provide motivation for "service work" to keep people interested
and involved. Some examples were publications for accelerator R&D work done
collaboratively between the experiments and accelerator, R&D ideas from users,
R&D money from user groups.

CDR Preparation/PAC27 ISSUES: Larry Cardman

PAC27 will have two parts: an update on the CDR physics case followed by
a shortened PAC for reviewing new proposals. Current plan is to contact the
editorial board (largely the same as the board for the pCDR) and have an
updated executive summary that can be presented to the PAC members. At the
meeting there will be presentations on each of the main topics in the CDR,
with an emphasis on new physics and new experiments, updated presentations of
the overall physics case, for final comment by the PAC before they are included
in the CDR.

AREA REPORTS:

Next annual meeting: P. Stoler

Tentative theme/title for the workshop is "Challenges in QCD". Want to
focus on the 'broader' physics topic, making sure to include speakers from
outside of JLab, as well as speakers on the present and 12 GeV JLab program.
Will try to have David Gross give an opening talk - In the short term, G.
Cates will try to contact him and will look at setting a date for the workshop.

DNP Users' group meeting: R. Gilman

Good turnout at the DNP satellite meeting (estimated 30 people). Discussion
focussed on the 12 GeV upgrade, with questions about the timetables, CDR
preparation, and funding scenarios. Many questions about the procedures
for decision making.

Computer issues: R. Gilman

Scientific computing meeting schedule for Nov 18th. Expect discussion
of problems/praise for enterprise linux changeover. Some discussion of
problems of with off-site access (slow response). There is a problem with
too much interactive use of the ifarm machines, and there may be a change
in policy to try and address this.

Graduate student issues: P. Monaghan

Discussion of space/office issues for students who are currently in trailers
(also covered during status report on CEBAF center upgrade). The graduate
student association (GSA) is planning to make several changes. First is to
provide information and assistance to students (and postdocs) when they first
move into the area. Discussing including postdocs in the GSA, organizing more activities than in
the past. There are new members of the GSA who have
agreed to help increase the role of the organization.

Quality of life: J. Arrington

Security issues led to the early removal of the computers from the
residence facility last summer. The resfac wireless network was upgraded
last summer, but there are still rooms where the reception is extremely weak
(on the verge of useless). New thinclients running windows XP were installed
a few days before the meeting. Early feedback was positive - much faster
than the previous machines, a seamless X-client allowing one to run x
applications from the JLab computers. It appears that not all of the software
that is supposed to be installed is currently available. Looking for user
feedback on the resfac machines.

Running experiments: J-P. Chen

The trip rate has been high for the present experiments running at 5.75 GeV
(see accelerator status report above). All of the halls are currently running
well, but Halls A and B lost time early on and are trying to get additional
time to make up for this. Hall C is running ahead of schedule, largely due
to the fact that the helium targets were able to take higher currents than expected.

There were some complaints that experiments and mcc sometimes fail to properly
take restoration time into account after beam studies periods, delaying
recovery from these down times. Hall B reported problems with saving and
restoring machine configurations - Hari Areti responded that this was
determined to be a communication issue between Hall B and MCC. There have
been complaints about poor communication during accelerator down times - it
was suggested that the operators make regular ELOG entries so that the halls
can have a better feeling for what's going on during extended downtimes.

Finally, one last problem was brought up involving the need for better
communication when problems involved three-way communication between the
Halls, MCC, and the cryo group. There was a problem the previous week where
cryo discovered what they thought was a problem in Hall C, and then contacted
MCC about the problem and asked for a Hall C access. It took several phone
calls and 20 minutes before anyone (MCC, the run coordinator, or the shift
crew) could find out what the problem was and try to fix it.

Space issues: C. Keppel

There will be meeting in the near future to define the furniture requirements
for the new office space in the CEBAF center addition, as well as discussions
about how to allocate space and move people into the new offices when they
become available.

Experimentalist/Theory Liaison: C. Weiss

No issues since the last meeting. Members of the theory group have
been actively involved in the upgrade planning, both in putting together
the physics case, writing the pCDR/CDR, and giving talks at JLab-wide
and hall specific planning meetings.

PAC Issues: D. Armstrong

There were several complaints about the uncertainty related to PAC27 and
the question of whether or not there would be review of new proposals.
While it may be necessary or advantageous to skip regular PAC meetings,
it was suggested that near the time of the PAC deadline, it should be made
clear if there will be another PAC meeting in 12 months so that people have as
much time as possible to decide if they have to submit in 6 months or if they
can wait.

There was also a significant amount of discussion about the PAC decisions
on pentaquark related proposals. Discussion of the PAC decision to wait on
initial Hall B experiments before considering new pentaquark proposals and the
fact that this reasoning was not included in the PAC25 report for experiments
that were deferred, leading to some confusion on what the PAC thought were
the reasons to defer some of the experiments. There as discussion of the
role of management in giving guidance to the PAC on major programs. There
was no resolution, and no plan to try and make any changes in the way the PAC
evaluates proposals.

Post-Doc issues: J. Roche

No postdoc issues, but there are still visa issues for foreign users.
In particular, there have been reports of disrespectful treatment of
some users. Dennis Skopik says that he will investigate these reports.

Clara Perdue reports that things have improved over the last six months,
and the problems in getting visas in a timely fashion have gotten better,
although visitors from sensitive countries still have greater issues. Dennis
Skopic reports that Clara will be leaving in December, and that there have
been discussion on reorganizing User Liaison and visa issues - welcomes input
on this issue.

HALL A REPORT: Kees de Jager

Happex-II and Happex-He both partially completed, limited to 30 uA due
to septum heating. Discovered and removed foreign material in the He
lines, and so expect to be able to reach higher currents for full run.
With additional collimation, hope to achieve >65 uA.

DVCS on the proton has 85% of the requested data, after extending the run
by six days. DVCS on the neutron is currently running well, but is short
on time - will request to remove maintenance time after Thanksgiving.

Schedule for 2005 finalized: SRC with BigBite, installation of septa
to finish hypernuclear running, installation of cryotargets to finish
Happex-II and Happex-He. Removal of septa and running of GEn.

Status of pentaquark analysis (g10 and g11). Calibration is nearly competed
for g11, and data cooking should begin soon (estimated 2 months to complete).
g10 started 2 months earlier, finish first pass cooking of the data but found
a tracking bug that induced a momentum bias in the results and so the data
will have to be rerun. In both cased, there is roughly 7 TB of data, so a full replay takes
something like 2-3 months.

HALL C REPORT: Steve Wood (for Rolf Ent)

Currently running a group of three (actually four) experiments: x>1, EMC
effect in He, search for color transparency in pion production. These
experiments are running ahead of schedule, largely because of higher than
expected currents for Helium running, and so the subthreshold J/Psi measurement
will take data during this run period.

Short and long term schedules dominated by large installation experiments
(G0, GEp-III, SANE, Semi-SANE, Qweak, GEn), but will also try to fit in
some of the measurements of R=sigma_L/sigma_T from the deuteron and nuclei
(low-Q data is of particular interest to neutrino scattering community, so
trying to get this part of the runs in early)

PAC27 has been given zero days to allocate in Hall C due to the large
number of days approved at the previous PAC.